ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – The Norfolk State softball team saw its season come to a close with a pair of losses on Thursday afternoon at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. Florida A&M broke open a tight game in the last two innings for a 9-5 win in a winner's bracket game of the MEAC tournament, and North Carolina Central rallied in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-2 victory in an elimination contest right after.
 
North No. 1 seed NSU suffered a pair of tough losses after leading after five innings in the first game and after six innings in the second. Both FAMU and NCCU advanced to play on Friday in the tournament.
 
Nevertheless, the Spartans finished the year at 25-20, their first winning overall season in six years. Included in there was an 11-4 MEAC record, which led to their first division title in the league.
 
In the second game of the day, they led by a 2-0 score until South No. 3 seed NCCU put together its last inning rally.
 
The Spartans scored both of their runs in the third. Sophomore Jade Dixon singled with one out and went to second on a bunt single from junior Shelby DesChamps. Freshman Lily Potter hit an RBI single into left field for a 1-0 lead, and DesChamps scored when the Eagles booted a bunt attempt off the bat of freshman Gabby Vaughan.
 
Sophomore Skylar Swain got out of a jam in the bottom of the fifth after the Eagles loaded the bases with two outs, and she got out of another run in the sixth when they put runners on first and third with two outs.
 
But in the seventh, the Eagles did their damage. They loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a walk. Another free pass scored one run, and Olivia Daniel lined a single off the wall in left for a 2-2 tie. The Spartans threw out a runner at home on the play, but another walk followed by a single down the left field line from Madison Mifsud closed it out.
 
DesChamps finished the game 3-for-4. Swain (9-7) suffered the loss after allowing nine hits and the last run of the game in 4.1 innings of work.
 
For the Eagles, Kiara Hurley (18-14) got the win after allowing two runs, one earned, and seven hits in all seven innings of work. N.C. Central improved to 23-25 on the year.
 
NSU opened the day with a mid-afternoon game against the Rattlers, the South No. 2 seed, after both teams won on Wednesday.
 
An error on the Spartans allowed Florida A&M to go up 1-0 in the top of the fourth. But an error on the Rattlers allowed NSU to get a runner on base in the bottom of the inning. The Spartans eventually got runners on first and third after senior Kylee Lopez had NSU's first hit of the game, and they pulled off a double steal to tie the game up.
 
NSU took the lead in the fifth. Sophomore Jazzmaine Hammond hit a bunt single to start things off and later went to second on a single by Dixon. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Potter beat out an infield hit to shortstop to score both for a 3-1 edge.
 
But from there, the Rattlers took over. They scored five runs in the top of the sixth, four of those with two outs and all of them unearned. Tyra Bowers hit a two-run single to highlight the inning, one in which the Spartans committed three errors.
 
They also added three runs in the seventh, including two on a single off the bat of Hera Varmah. NSU scored single runs in the last two innings, including a solo homer from Hammond in the sixth and an RBI single from Lopez in the seventh.
 
Lopez batted 3-for-3 against FAMU, and Hammond hit 2-for-3 with a pair of runs.
 
Kyaira Brown (15-9) got the win for the Rattlers after allowing eight hits and five runs, four earned, with five strikeouts in all seven innings. She also went 3-for-4 at the plate. Varmah had three RBI as well for Florida A&M (24-25).
 
NSU will lose three seniors off this year's team in Lopez, Hunter Halford and Shannon Buffington.
 
Lopez leaves school as the program's all-time home run hitter with 29, including the program's single-season record holder with 14 as a junior in 2018. A two-time All-MEAC performer, she finished with a .289 average, including better than .340 over her last two seasons. She ended her career sixth in total bases (254), eighth in doubles (27), 10^th in walks (60), 12^th in RBI (109), games played (170) and at bats (485), and 13^th in starts (169).
 
Halford was also a two-time all-conference honoree, at first base her junior year and then at pitcher as a senior. She went 30-41 with a 3.24 ERA, ranking 10^th in ERA at NSU as well as ninth in wins. Halford also finds herself fourth in walks/seven innings (1.65), fifth in strikeouts (242), sixth in innings (421.0), starts (66) and shutouts (7), eighth in appearances (82), ninth in complete games (39), and 12^th in hits/seven innings (8.06) and strikeouts/seven innings (4.02). She also hit .256 and ranked eighth all-time at NSU with 14 career home runs. She tallied 60 runs on 90 hits with 10 doubles and 51 RBI.
 
Buffington, a two-year player, went 4-4 with a 3.76 ERA, including 3.06 in her senior season. She started 10 games and made 43 total appearances with three saves in 102.1 innings of work. Buffington struck out 41 in her career and was involved in a pair of combined shutouts. Her ERA this year currently ranks sixth in the MEAC.